Also known as: double jeopardy
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The risk of criminal conviction and punishment to which a defendant is exposed once prosecution begins. The Fifth Amendment bars the government from placing a person in that position more than once for the same offense.
Federal prosecutors empaneled and swore a jury for Diaz's bribery trial. A government shutdown then forced the judge to discharge the jury before any evidence was presented. When the government later sought to retry Diaz before a new jury, the court dismissed the charges because the initial swearing had already placed him in jeopardy.
Prosecutors called Jeanette Jensen to trial on embezzlement charges. The clerk swore the jury panel and the judge delivered preliminary instructions. When the prosecution later attempted a second trial after a mistrial declaration, the court barred retrial because jeopardy had attached at the swearing of the first jury.
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Joanna Jung was convicted of felony assault. The state then filed a misdemeanor battery charge arising from the identical incident. The court dismissed the new charge because the prior prosecution for the greater offense had already placed her in jeopardy for the lesser included offense.
Jose Jimenez was acquitted in state court of drug possession. Federal prosecutors then indicted him for the same conduct. The court dismissed the federal case because the Double Jeopardy Clause, incorporated against the states, protected Jimenez from successive state-federal prosecutions for the identical offense.
Jamal Jefferson faced an adjudicatory hearing in juvenile court on charges of vandalism. After the court began hearing evidence, the state dismissed the juvenile case and filed adult criminal charges for the same acts. The court dismissed the adult prosecution because jeopardy had attached during the juvenile proceeding.
Jada Jones was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. After the conviction was reversed on appeal for instructional error, the state retried her on the same charges. The court permitted the retrial because reversal for trial error does not terminate the original jeopardy.
Jeopardy attaches when the jury is empaneled and sworn. After that point the defendant is protected against retrial for the same offense unless the first proceeding ends in a manner consistent with double jeopardy principles such as manifest necessity or consent.
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Yes. Once jeopardy has attached and the defendant has been prosecuted for a greater offense, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars subsequent prosecution for a lesser included offense based on the same conduct.
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Yes. The Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause applies to the states through incorporation into the Fourteenth Amendment, so state prosecutions are subject to the same constitutional bar on double jeopardy as federal prosecutions.
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Yes. Retrial is allowed when a conviction is reversed due to the erroneous admission of evidence. Such reversal does not trigger the double jeopardy bar even if the remaining evidence might be insufficient standing alone.
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Yes. When an adjudicatory juvenile proceeding begins and the court starts to hear evidence on the charged act, jeopardy attaches and bars a subsequent criminal trial for the same offense.
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…law was to protect the pregnant woman, that is, to restrain her from submitting to a procedure that placed her life in serious jeopardy. Modern medical techniques have altered this situation. Appellants and various amici refer to medical data indicating that abortion in early pregnancy, that is, prior to the end of the…